Does formal or informal institution prevail regarding the perception of wearing masks during the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from French tweets

Abstract

With the spread of COVID-19, many countries have issued different policies and regulations on wearing masks to prevent the pandemic spread. While wearing surgical masks is a major way to prevent COVID-19 in Asian countries, it is controversial in the western world. French nations were sceptical on wearing masks as it is associated with religion freedom suppression, gender inequality or even the infamous “the veil in school†(le voile à l’école) incident. As the COVID-19 problem escalated, wearing masks proved to be effective in reducing the spread of virus and many French-speaking nations had to wear masks according to regulations and policies. This raised the questions, ‘What is the French nations’ viewpoint?’ and ‘Does formal or informal institution prevail in wearing masks during COVID-19?’ Through data mining from Twitter, this study attempted to investigate how wearing mask (‘port du masque’) policies and regulations were perceived by French-speaking countries during COVID-19. In total, 1288 French Tweets were collected and analysed. While it may be expected that French Tweets regarding wearing masks is primarily linked to health and culture, French Tweets on wearing masks were mainly linked to laws and policies.